IPSE

The YES Abroad IPSE (In-Person Selection Event) was last weekend, and I cannot believe that I have not written a blog post about it yet! Just as I imagined it would be, it was awesome. There were over 100 people there who had so many of the same interests that I have, which is not something that any of us come across very often. Even though I am not technically an exchange student yet, I can already tell that when the time comes, my fellow exchange students will definitely be some of my absolute favorite people. (By the way, I am not being cocky in any way and saying that I will definitely be a finalist for YES Abroad haha if you read my last post, you will see that I am a finalist for CBYX! I'M DEFINITELY STUDYING ABROAD!!) Speaking of CBYX, I guess I should mention that I had my in-home interview for AFS yesterday.

Anyway, I guess I should really start talking about IPSE. I mean, that is what this post is supposed to be about, right? It all started at noon on Friday, March 21st when my mom and brother dropped me off at the train station, and I took the train down to DC. When I got to Union Station, I quickly spotted two volunteers (and YES Abroad returnees) who were holding up YES signs. As I was walking up to them and the group surrounding them, I spotted one of my friends from Facebook and quickly gave her a hug! We had to wait for a little bit longer at the station because we were waiting for another one of my friends. Once she got there, we got in a shuttle and headed off to the 4H Center, which is a much longer trip than necessary because of DC's obnoxious traffic. When we arrived at the 4H Center, we went to the lobby and checked in  and got our handbooks before going off to find our rooms. Yet another one of my friends from Facebook helped us find our rooms, and then I got to meet one of my roommates! After hanging out in the common area for a little bit, it was time to go to the auditorium for the welcome and dinner. Some people had interviews after dinner on Friday night and had to go change right after dinner, and I was scheduled to go to the country tables. Once I was done with the country tables, which resulted in me making a new friend, I decided to hang out with my friends in one of the lounges until it was almost curfew. After that, I went to bed.

Saturday was the only full day of IPSE and the day for which I had my personal interview and one of my group evaluations scheduled. Breakfast began at 7:00, so I woke up pretty early. Everyone had a workshop after breakfast that was focused on how we will introduce ourselves while we're in our host countries. When that finished up, I hung out with some friends and met some new people, and then I had a group evaluation. Even though they sound a little bit intimidating, the group evaluations are actually a lot of fun! I won't say what we did in them (I'm pretty sure that's not allowed), but I really enjoyed them. My individual interview was at 2:00, so I went for that right after lunch. It wasn't too bad, but I know that I could have done much better. Once my interview was done, I had the rest of the day free, so I did homework and hung out with friends until curfew. When I got back to my room, my roommates and I ended up talking for 2 hours about pretty much everything before going to sleep. That really made it hard to believe that I had just met them the day before.

Sunday was a sad day. It went by really fast. I had breakfast, one more group evaluation (so much fun!), a boxed lunch, one last hang out in the lounge, and a very short closing session.  Even though my train didn't leave until after 3, we had to leave the 4H Center at about 11, and even as I was saying my goodbyes, I don't think it really hit me that I may not ever see some of those wonderful people again. I took the time at the train station to do some homework and chat with some of the other people leaving from Union Station, while going on Starbucks and sushi runs. I got on the train, and the whole ride seemed to go by in a blur. I'm sure it was because I was STILL trying to finish up some biology homework and memorize court cases. As soon as I stepped off of the train and took the escalator up to the main floor of the station, I was thrust back into my real life.

So far, the process of becoming an exchange student has seemed unreal. It honestly feels a lot like a dream. I feel like I'm waiting for someone to tell me to wake up and prepare for senior year in the U.S. That's not going to happen though. This is real, and I'm soooo excited to see what the future holds!

P.S. I really need to start adding pictures to my posts..all text is so boring. Maybe in the next post or an edit of this one?